Day 3: Lost in Ibiza

RUN: 3.1 miles

Today we decided to tackle the steep hill on the opposite side of Cala Llonga bay to where where staying (Fiesta Cala Llonga). Except we couldn't find the steps that we can see from our hotel... so we turned back and did the Day 1 route backwards. Much better - tackling the steepest hill first and then gentle downhill (mostly) for the rest of the way. 3.1 miles overall.
Here's a pic I took of the empty beach as a jogged past...

It´s been quite a bit warmer the past two mornings than on Day 1. Maybe we´ve been slightly later setting off and those few minutes make all the difference.
We've seen quite a few people running in the midday heat over the past few days. They must be mad. Any later than 7.15 and I´d be collapsing I'm sure!
Might try a shorter run tomorrow because my shins are suffering a little bit.

Day 2: A hot morning in Ibiza

RUN: 2.6 miles

Hola! Got up at the crack of dawn again today (well, 7am) and took a different road out to another bay.
I took a pic, which I´ll post when I get home. It was beautiful.
I did 2.6 miles and it was WARM! Very sweaty and much harder work than yesterday.
It does feel good to be out and about early, though (although we were still beaten to it by all the cheeky sunbed reservers and their pesky towels!)
Here's me on the start line. These are not the clothes I ran in, obviously (!) it's just to show where it all started.

Day 1: Running in Ibiza

RUN: 2.8 miles

My birthday is finally here and I´ve done my first run!
I ran (with my boyfriend Andy - since it´s my birthday and I´m in a 'strange' country) a few miles around Cala Llonga.
We headed out about 7am, while the shadows were long and the pavements were still relatively cool.
A few stretches by the pool and off we went, out of the town away from the beach down a dirt track for a mile or so, looped round to the main road, up the hill and back down towards the beach and the hotel.
Cooled down next to the pool and got ready for our birthday boat trip.
I´ve looked on Google Maps to see how far we ran because I can´t use MapMyRun out here. I´ll do that for every run once I'm back in England though. We did 2.8 miles today.
It was warm work indeed and I can tell I haven´t run for a little while, waiting for my shin splints to heal, so it was quite hard work for just my first few miles, I must admit. Thought I´d start with just a shortish route for the first one though.
Shins feel ok though, which is good news *Touch wood*.
Here's me resting and cooling down by the very empty pool after my first run...

Only minutes to go until Day 1!

So there are just a few minutes to go until my birthday... or maybe it will already be here by the time I post this.
I´m still in Ibiza so I´m going to get up early and run before the heat kicks in. Plus we´re going on a birthday boat trip so I need to get a few miles in before the bus picks us up!
I'll take some photos and maybe a video so you can see how pretty it is here. A lovely place to begin my challenge.
I´ll post the first of my daily run blogs tomorrow and let you all know how it goes. Wooo!

Only two days to go!

Well there are just two days to go until my birthday and the start of my big challenge.
At the moment I´m on holiday in Ibiza, so I´ll be doing the first five days of running in Cala Llonga, Ibiza.
I´m sure it´s going to be hot work, but I´m planning to get up early and beat the heat. There´s always the motivation of a a nice glass of sangria and a cooling dip in the pool when I get back to keep me going.
I get back to England on June 30th and have a week off work, so plenty of chance to put in a few miles in the rain (no doubt) if my holiday puts me a little behind schedule.
So I´m hoping to do two or three miles here each day for the first five days.
I won´t be able to track my routes on MapMyRun here (because I won´t have a 3G connection on my phone), but I will plot my routes on Google Maps and hopefully get a fairly accurate distance. I´ll round it down, just to be on the safe side... I don´t want to be seen to be cheating at all, now, do I?

Shin troubles

So this is my first post for a little while as I´ve been resting for the past ten days or so to try to get rid of these pesky shin splints in preparation for the start of my challenge in a few days.
I´ve laid off the high-impact exercise and kept massaging my right shin - which was fairly painful for a few days after I last ran - with ice and taking ibruprofen to reduce the inflamation.
I was a little bit worried about it, but I´d better be prepared for an injury or two in the coming year.
I know that running every day isn´t necessarily good for the body, but hopefully the positive effects on my body will outweigh the negatives.
Anyway, I´m all kitted out with various running gear and now a shiny new shin support, so all ready and raring to go on Monday.
Who knows what kind of supports I´ll be sporting this time next year. Fingers crossed the joints and muscles strengthen up and hold out for me.

Race For Life - (almost) made it in 30 minutes

This morning was Race For Life time and the weather was lovely in Ilkley.
I managed to drag my (very hungover) friend Emma to the park to join all the other ladies all dressed in pink for 10.30am. Which was a victory in itself.
Then we set off, around East Holmes Field, down Denton Road, up to Nell Bank and back again.
I did another non-stop run, which I was quite pleased with. I was aiming to finish within 30 mins, but missed my target by a whole 19 seconds. Ah well.
Emma made it back in 34 mins - quite an achievement after a whole bottle of sparkling wine and a very late night.
The weather was so nice I even got a little bit sunburned. Oops! Another lesson learned.
Here's the proof I made it:

I ran three miles non-stop!

Woohoo! Well it might be a small achievement for other people, but it's quite a big deal for me.

According to MapMyRun, I ran 3.12 miles in 29 mins. And most importantly, I didn't stop! Not once!

Maybe it's my magic new running shoes, or maybe I'm just improving.

I've been going out a bit on my own (without my boyfriend Andy, who has been helping me with the motivation) and I'm finding that going at my own pace with just my iPod for company is really helping me to keep going.

I'm still having trouble with the shin splints in one leg (not helped by the fact I fell down the stairs today while staring at my phone on my way out to run!) but I have given it a few days' rest and it feels a little easier now. The new trainers should see it right.

I've been on a few runs since I last blogged. I went down to Ilkley with my friend Emma ahead of the Race For Life and we ran about three miles along the river - a really nice short route to bear in mind for the future.

We saw some lovely little piglets, which broke our stride a bit!

Here they are:

We also had to tackle the stepping stones. Needless to say we didn't run that bit. It wasn't too scary, but I wouldn't fancy it if the river was much higher!

I've also been out on a run along the Stray in Harrogate. Lots of runners about and a very civilised place to put in a few miles.

Race For Life in two days... Fingers crossed for a sub-half hour time and another non-stop run.

My new running shoes!

I've got some new trainers!

Well it's about time actually, because I'm starting to get blisters and shin splints while making do with my old gym trainers (which look nice but are very unsuitable for a dedicated athlete like me!)

The old ones were giving me blisters on the ends of my toes (see this lovely pic below!) - but I'm going to have to look after these little tootsies if they're going to last me the year!

So we've been to SportsShoes Unlimited (or SportsShoes.com) in Bradford (which is going to shut down next month, unfortunately) and bought a lovely pair of trainers. They're silver and purple ones to me, but for anyone who's interested in further detail they're Brooks Lady Adrenaline GTS 11 Running Shoes. Yes, that was 'Lady'. Perfect for me, ey?

Anyway, I did a little run on the treadmill in the shop and the man told me I overpronate (initially strike the ground on the outside of my heel but roll my foot too far the other way before bouncing off on my toes, putting strain on all the wrong bits in my ankles and knees) so I needed some trainers with support in the arch to help me stop that happening.

Afterwards we took the trainers to Nandos and soon I'll be taking them out on the road... stay tuned!

My Challenge: The Rules

Well tomorrow is June 1st, so that means it's not long at all until my one-year challenge starts.
So here are the rules:

• I have to run every day from June 25, 2012, until June 25, 2013 - my 29th birthday.
• I have to run at least one mile per day.
• I have to run 1,000 miles in the year - 2.75 miles a day, almost 20 miles a week.

I've had this in my mind for a good five months or so, but I haven't told many people - mostly in case I realised I was a complete hopeless case once I actually got my trainers on and started running.

But as it turns out I can put one foot in front of the other ok, so that's a start.

As you might know it's all in aid of charity - so you can be sure I'll be one the sponsorship trail very soon. I'm in the process of sorting out an online giving account, so I'll be posting the details here as soon as I can.

Anyway, this is my challenge blog and I'll be posting here each day about my run and putting up a picture or even a video if I see anything interesting. I'll also be posting my running total (!) so we can all see whether I'm on track for my target.